Hector-Jonathan Crémieux (10 November 1828 – 30 September 1893) was a French

librettist A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major ...

and

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

. His best-known work is his collaboration with

Ludovic Halévy Ludovic Halévy (1 January 1834 – 7 May 1908) was a French people, French author and playwright, known for his collaborations with Henri Meilhac on the libretto, libretti for Georges Bizet's ''Carmen'' and comic operas by Jacques Offenbach, inc ...

for

Jacques Offenbach Jacques Offenbach (; 20 June 18195 October 1880) was a German-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s to the 1870s, and his uncompleted opera ''The Tales of Hoffmann''. He was a p ...

's ''Orphée aux Enfers'', known in English as ''

Orpheus in the Underworld ''Orpheus in the Underworld'' and ''Orpheus in Hell'' are English names for (), a comic opera with music by Jacques Offenbach and words by Hector-Jonathan Crémieux, Hector Crémieux and Ludovic Halévy. It was first performed as a two-act "op ...

''.

Life

Crémieux was born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

to a

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish family - he was related to the lawyer

Adolphe Crémieux Isaac-Jacob Adolphe Crémieux (; 30 April 1796 – 10 February 1880) was a French lawyer and politician who served as Minister of Justice under the Second Republic (1848) and Government of National Defense (1870–1871). Raised Jewish, he ...

. He studied law and then worked in the civil service. His first play, ''Fiesque'' (1852) was a historical drama, but before long he started to write comedies and then, in collaboration,

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs and including dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, and length of the work. Apart from its shorter length, the oper ...

and

opéra comique ''Opéra comique'' (; plural: ''opéras comiques'') is a genre of French opera that contains spoken dialogue and arias. It emerged from the popular ''opéras comiques en vaudevilles'' of the Théâtre de la foire, Fair Theatres of St Germain and S ...

librettos. His collaborations with Halévy were often written under the joint pseudonym Paul d'Arcy. In 1887, Crémieux became secretary-general of the Société des Dépôts et Comptes Courants, and ceased writing. Five years later, the Société collapsed and he committed suicide by gunshotIMDb
/ref> in Paris.

Libretti

For Jacques Offenbach

* ''Le savetier et le financier'' (1856) - with E About * '' Une demoiselle en loterie'' (1857) - with Louis-Adolphe Jaime * ''Orphée aux enfers'' (''

'') (1858) - with Ludovic Halévy * ''

Geneviève de Brabant ''Geneviève de Brabant'' () is an opéra bouffe, or operetta, by Jacques Offenbach, first performed in Paris in 1859. The plot is based on the medieval legend of Genevieve of Brabant. For the 1867 version two additional characters, men-at-ar ...

'' (1859) - by Louis-Adolphe Jaime and Etienne Tréfeu (revised by Crémieux with Tréfeu) * ''

La chanson de Fortunio ''La chanson de Fortunio '' (''The Song of Fortunio'') is a short Opéra comique, opéra-comique in one act by Jacques Offenbach with a French libretto by Ludovic Halévy and Hector-Jonathan Crémieux, Hector Crémieux. The music was composed wit ...

'' (1861) - with Ludovic Halévy * '' Le pont des soupirs'' (1861) - with Ludovic Halévy * '' M. Choufleuri restera chez lui le . . .'' (1861) - with M de Saint Rémy, Ernest L'Épine and

* ''Le roman comique'' (1861) - with Ludovic Halévy * ''Jacqueline'' (1862) - with

, with common pseudonym Pol d’Arcy * '' Les bergers'' (1865) - with Philippe Gille * ''

Robinson Crusoé ''Robinson Crusoé '' is an opéra comique with music by Jacques Offenbach and words by Eugène Cormon and Hector-Jonathan Crémieux. It premiered in Paris on 23 November 1867. The writers took the theme from the 1719 novel ''Robinson Crusoe'' ...

'' (1867) - with Eugène Cormon * '' La jolie parfumeuse'' (1873) - with

Ernest Blum Ernest Blum (15 August 1836 – 18 September 1907) was a French playwright. Biography He made his debut as a writer at the age of sixteen with ''Une femme qui mord''. As a journalist, he was associated with ''Le Charivari'', '' Le Rappel'', '' L ...

* ''

Bagatelle Bagatelle (from the Château de Bagatelle) is a billiards-derived indoor table game, the object of which is to get a number of balls (set at nine in the 19th century) past wooden pins (which act as obstacles) into holes that are guarded by wood ...

'' (1874) - with Ernest Blum * ''La foire Saint-Laurent'' (1877) - with Albert de Saint-Albin

For
Léo Delibes Clément Philibert Léo Delibes (; 21 February 1836 – 16 January 1891) was a French Romantic music, Romantic composer, best known for his ballets and French opera, operas. His works include the ballets ''Coppélia'' (1870) and ''Sylvia (b ...

*''Les eaux d’Ems'' (1861) - with Ludovic Halévy

For Hervé

*''

Le petit Faust ''Le petit Faust'' is an opéra bouffe in four acts which burlesques the drama ''Faust'' by Goethe and the opera of the same name by Gounod. The music of the piece is by Hervé, with a text by Hector-Jonathan Crémieux and Adolphe Jaime. The wo ...

'' (1869) - with Louis-Adolphe Jaime *''Les Turcs'' (1869) - with Louis-Adolphe Jaime *''Le trône d'Écosse'' (1871) - with Louis-Adolphe Jaime *''La veuve du Malabar'' (1873) - with A. Delacour *''La belle poule'' (1875) - with Albert de Saint-Albin

For Léon Vasseur

*''La famille Trouillat'' (1874) - with Ernest Blum

Plays

Amongst the plays written by Hector-Jonathan Crémieux are: *''Fiesque: drame en cinq actes et huit tableaux, en vers, d'après Schiller'' (1852) - with his brother, Émile Crémieux, and based on

Friedrich Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, philosopher and historian. Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright. He was born i ...

's play ''Die Verschwörung des Fiesco zu Genua'' *''Germaine: drame en cinq actes et huit tableaux '' (1858) - with

Adolphe d'Ennery Adolphe d'Ennery (; or Dennery; Adolphe Philippe; 17 June 181125 January 1899) was a French playwright and novelist. Life Born in Paris, his real surname was Philippe. He obtained his first success in collaboration with Charles Desnoyer in ' ...

and based on

Edmond About Edmond may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Edmond'' (play), a 1982 play by David Mamet ** ''Edmond'' (film), a 2005 film based on the 1982 play * '' E.d.M.O.N.D'', a 2013 EP by Edmond Leung * ''Edmond'', a 2016 play by Alexis Michalik ** ''E ...

's novel of the same name *''La voie sacrée, ou, Les étapes de la gloire: drame militaire en cinq actes'' (1859) - with Eugène Woestyn and Ernest Bourget *''Le pied de mouton'' (1859) - with Charles-Théodore Cogniard and Jean-Hippolyte Cogniard *''L'Abbe Constantin'' (1882) - with Pierre Decourcelle and based on Ludovic Halévy's novel of the same name *''Autour du mariage'' (1883) - with the Comtesse de Martel and based on her novel of the same name

References

New Grove Dictionary of Opera ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' is an encyclopedia of opera. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volumes. The dictionary was first published in 1992 by Macmillan Reference, L ...

, vol 1, p. 1004 .

External links

Jewish Encyclopedia: Crémieux, Hector-Jonathan
written by

Isidore Singer Isidore Singer (10 November 1859 – 20 February 1939) was an Austrian-born American encyclopedist and editor of '' The Jewish Encyclopedia'' and founder of the American League for the Rights of Man. Biography Singer was born in 1859 in ...

and J. Fuchs {{DEFAULTSORT:Cremieux, Hector-Jonathan French opera librettists 19th-century French dramatists and playwrights 1828 births 1892 deaths 19th-century French Jews Writers from Paris Suicides in Paris 19th-century French male writers 1890s suicides